So I've been wanting to upgrade my old Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 for a while now, since I'd like the ability to do video and a bigger hard drive, as well as smaller things like a better interface and smaller form factor. I mentioned in another thread that I was seriously looking at the Zune, but the 30 Gb hard drive was a dealbreaker. An announcement of a larger one would probably push me that way though. I keep seeing the ipods and accessories out there though, and I'm wondering if that might not be the best solution. I'm sure that there are others here though that have more information than I do, so how about this-here's what I'm looking for as far as features go:
-Multiple Player Sync: This is a must have. I'll probably be buying two of whatever I end up getting-one for me, and one for my wife. I have a large library of non DRMed mp3s that I'll want to sync to both players without a whole lot of hassle. I'd also like to be able to define different sync options for both players (e.g. different library subsets based on device). I'd also like digitally purchased music to work on both players (as well as the computer of course).
-Video Support: I'd like to be able to put video on there, hopefully without jumping through too many hoops. I've done the whole Divx->DVD thing, and it's a pain in the ass. Something like the Videora converter for the 360 would be ideal (a one-click solution that actually works). The larger and clearer the screen the better. Has anyone actually tried watching a movie on one of these things?
-Bookmarking: I listen to a lot of audiobooks/podcasts, and don't always finish one in a session. My Nomad has a great feature where any track can be bookmarked, and then you can seek to that bookmark later on, even if you go play something else first. I'd like the same feature in a new player, including video.
-Durability: I don't want the player to break if I knock it off a table, so it should be able to walk away from something like a 5 foot drop relatively unscathed.
Something else that'd be nice from the podcast front-being able to define separate playlists for podcast content and regular music. Say, for example, that I'm listening to some podcasts, then switch to some music, then back to the podcasts. I'd like to not only keep those two playlists going in parallel, but be able to go back to the point where I was in the playlist (so playlist bookmarking in addition to track bookmarking). It'd also be nice to be able to define a shuffle function that would only use a subset of the library (i.e. not audiobooks or podcasts), but I suppose that I could do that with some creatively defined playlists.
The other thing that I think sounds cool about the Zune is the "all you can eat" subscription service, especially if they end up enabling downloading over WiFi in the future. It also looks like the Zune has a better/larger screen. The ipod has the advantage of being more widely available though, and of having much easier to find accessories and such (car chargers, transmitters, etc). It looks like everything has an integrated Li-Ion battery now, so no matter what you're looking at replacing the player if the battery craps out.
Anyone care to offer any insights? The people who work at Best Buy don't really know anything about these things that isn't written on the box.
